How to Train Your Dragon… to Fly?

Authors

  • Edward Reynolds The Centre for Interdisciplinary Science, University of Leicester

Keywords:

Film, Physics, Aerodynamics, Dragon, How to Train Your Dragon

Abstract

This paper will explore the concept that the Dragons in the motion pictures “How to Train your Dragon” and “How to Train your Dragon 2” have impractical wing sizes. It does so by estimating a surface area of the wings and then a weight before using an equation for lift for four different types of dragon; the “Terrible Terror”, the “Gronkle”, the “Night Fury” and the “Red Death”. Finally the forward velocity required for each dragon to provide lift is calculated and determined that the dragons would have to move faster than shown in the films to have any lift whatsoever. For instance the least practical breed, the “Gronkle” would need a forward velocity of 299.6 ms-1 to achieve lift while the most practical breeds are the Terrible Terror and the Night fury with 36.5 ms‑1.

References

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Tong, J. & Schwab, J. (2004) The Flight of Birds. From The Engineering of Birds presentations, MIT Open Courseware, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Available: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/materials-science-and-engineering/3-a26-freshman-seminar-the-nature-of-engineering-fall-2005/projects/flght_of_brdv2ed.pdf [Accessed 12/03/2015].

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How to Cite

Reynolds, E. (2017). How to Train Your Dragon… to Fly?. Journal of Interdisciplinary Science Topics, 4. Retrieved from https://journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/jist/article/view/783

Issue

Vol. 4 (2015)

Section

Articles

License

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.  All content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC-BY 4.0).